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Angels’ in-game, a big 14-11 victory
July 23rd, 2008, 12:47 pm · 11 Comments · posted by Ellen Bell, Afternoon Angel
* - John Lackey is not starting well. A full-count walk to Grady Sizemore and, after David Dellucci is retired on a sharp liner to right, Ben Francisco doubles to right.
Now, Jhonny Peralta just singled to left and it’s 1-0 Indians …
* - Lackey is facing his fifth batter of the inning, Shin-Soo Choo and already has thrown 22 pitches … Make that 27 … Choo just hit a perfect double play ball back to Lackey, but the Angels’ pitcher threw high to second and the ball went into center field. It’s 2-0 Indians and they have runners at first and second with one out …
* - Lackey is out of the inning, finally. He struck out Ryan Garko and just got Andy Marte on a fly to right …
* - In the bottom half, Casey Kotchman singled with one out, but the No. 3 hitter, shortstop Erick Aybar, bounced into a 5-4-3 double play to end the inning. …
*- Lackey is going to the mound in the second having thrown 32 pitches already. …
* - Lackey has a nice quiet second inning - he struck out Sal Fasano and Asdrubal Cabrera and retired Grady Sizemore on a liner to center. Only 14 pitches, but the total is up to 46 …
* - The Angels score! Vladimir Guerrero opens the bottom of the second with a single to left and one out later Howie Kendrick doubles into the corner in right. It’s Indians 2, Angels 1 …
* - The Angels tie the score on a wild pitch on ball four to Gary Matthews - what is Aaron Laffey thinking, walking that guy on four pitches?. But after Jeff Mathis followed with a single, Chone Figgins grounded out.
Still, after two innings, it’s tied at 2 …
* - OK, Lackey seems to be settling in. Another 1-2-3 inning and he’s now retired eight in a row, four on strikeouts … After throwing 32 pitches in the first inning, he needed only 22 to get the next six outs …
* - Opps, so much for that roll Lackey was on … he gives up a single to Choo to open the fourth and then Ryan Garko from Servite High drills a 2-2 pitch over the wall in left. Suddenly, it 4-2 Cleveland …
* - Laffey is incredible. Gary Matthews is hitting .232 and has almost twice as many strikeouts this month as base hits (9 to 5) and the first time up he walks him on four pitches and now he just gives up a RBI single.
Matthews 1 for 1 and on base twice? The Indians lead 4-3, but not for long if the guy keep making mistakes like that. …
*- Just looked it up. Matthews hasn’t been on base twice in one game since July 7 when he had a hit and walk against the Texas Rangers. …
*- There you go - Kotchman just singled to center to drive in Matthews - it’s 4-4. And Erick Aybar follows with a single to right to make it 5-4, Angels …
* - And, there goes that lead. After singles by Jhonny Peralta and Garko, Andy Marte just singled to left to drive in the tying run. Lackey just threw his 95th pitch, in the fifth inning. He won’t be around much longer, and the Angels have Justin Speier up in the pen …
*- Sal Fasano just poked a single to left and it’s 6-5 Indians …
* - And, here come the Angels again … Juan Rivera singled to open the bottom of the fifth, followed by a double by Kendrick and now an intentional walk to Garret Anderson to load the bases for … none other than Gary Matthews …
Oh, wait, here comes a pitching change … Indians going to someone who can get Matthews out … right-hander Tom Mastny on his way in …
*- The double by Kendrick there was his third of the game, tying the franchise record. Aybar and Torii Hunter also have three doubles in a game this season …
* - Ok, here is the big match up. Bases loaded, no outs, Matthews and Mastny …
Ball one …
Swinging strike one …
Ball two, low and away …
Ball three, low and inside …
Foul ball to run the count full, 3-2 …
Ball four … and the score is again tied. It’s now 6-6 …
* - And on the next pitch from Mastny, a grand slam. Mathis takes it well over the wall in left center and the Angels lead 10-6 … Hard to believe, but it looks like Lackey is going to get a ‘W’ in this one …
Then again, it is Justin Speier up in the pen … better stay tuned …
* - That grand slam by Mathis was the 10th allowed by Cleveland this season. That is the most in a year since 1951, which is as far back as their record books goes. …
* - And here comes Speier …
* - One, two three …
* - The Indians are leaving this Mastny guy out there on the mound …
And, there’s a leadoff walk to Juan Rivera …
And, there’s a double to Garret Anderson …
And, that’s enough of Mastny … the Indians are going to Jensen Lewis, another right-hander …
* - Mathis just drove in two more runs with a double to left. He now has four hits including a grand slam and six RBI, both career highs. The Angels’ 12 runs also are a season high …
* - Mathis had played 13 games in July before the Indians got to town and drove in six runs in those games. So far - it’s still only the seventh inning - the Angels’ catcher has nine RBI in this series. …
* - Kotchman just led off the bottom of the seventh with a single to right, his fifth hit of the day. That is a career high. The Angels now have runners at second and third, following a double by Aybar.
The double gives the Angels 18 hits, a season high …
* - Kendrick just tacked on two more runs with a single up the middle. At the end of 7, it’s 14-7 … The Browns need a new quarterback. …
* - Sizemore just homered to make it 14-8 … how the score looks like it’s a Canadian football game …
* - Kotchman has five hits and Kendrick and Mathis have four, making this the first time in club history that three players have had four or more hits in a nine inning game.
Then again, this might not be a nine-inning game. The Indians have cut the lead to 14-10 …
* - Jamey Carroll, hitting for Sal Fasano, led off the ninth with a single to center. The Angels have 14 runs - and are having to warm up closer Frankie Rodriguez. …
* - Jose Arredondo just gave up a two-out double to David Dellucci that made the score 14-11, and everyone knows what that means … K-Rod, on his way in …
Rodriguez will face Ben Francisco …
One pitch, one out … grounder to short, and that’s the ball game …
11 Comments
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This isn’t a good first inning team at all. The pitchers rarely have a quick 1-2-3 first inning. The offense rarely makes the pitcher work either. Lackey threw a whole 32 pitches in the first. The offense saw a whole six pitches. That’s terrible.
The main reason Vlad isn’t very good this year can be put on the top of the lineup and when I say that I really mean Chone Figgins. He isn’t cutting it this year as the leadoff hitter. Time to try someone else. A good leadoff hitter doesn’t hit the first pitch and fly out in the first. Or the second pitch. Reggie Willits is a great leadoff hitter. Can Reggie play third base?
This batting order is a joke too. Vlad ends up leading off the second inning most of the time. Why is Erick Aybar hitting third? Has Mike Scioscia lost his mind? Arte Moreno needs to hire an offense expert. When Joe Maddon left to manage the Devil Rays I think the offense went with him. I don’t see anyone on the coaching staff helping this offense improve. Adding a big bat won’t do much either since the real problem has to do with the batting order.
Yuck. The offense did enough to at least tie the game and Lackey goes out and blows it with a two run homer. This team is such a disappointment when they play horrible teams. They can’t hit lousy pitchers at all. And the starting pitchers need to step up again. Throwing so many pitches early is the opposite of what the bullpen needed from Lackey. If he wants to be the staff ace he isn’t proving it to me today. After Jered last night the bullpen needs the day off. I guess they’ll be overworked again today though. Thanks for nothing Lackey.
John Lackey is John Slackey today. Horrible job pitching. Way to let the bullpen down. This team better get their act together. I’m tired of watching a pathetic team when they play pathetic teams. If the Angels would play up to their talent every game they’d have a huge lead. Instead they play down to the level of the competition. I say Arte Moreno better get involved right now. He’s being robbed by these guys. When you can beat good teams you have no excuse at all to play crappy like they are this week.
Somebody wake up Garret Anderson. He’s useless right now. Howie keeps hitting doubles. All Garret seems to do is ground out. At least Howie cares. Does anyone else on this team?
Chone Figgins is worthless right now. Just bench him. With how Lackey is pitching the offense needs to step up. Even Matthews and Mathis are getting on. Figgins is doing nothing lately. Bench time. Let Izturis play third.
Wow. What a bunch of whiners. Best Record in baseball. 14 runs scored. haven’t lost an AL series since early may. its like going on a red sox message board. save the whines for the playoffs…when it matters.
My bad what A WHINER. (singular)
This looks like a typical Mike Scioscia game. Can’t make the right pitching decisions. He let Justin Speier pitch the 6th and see if he could do it and he did a great job. What does he do? After 12 pitches he yanks Speier for O’Day who is almost as bad as Lackey was earlier. Then with O’Day hitting everyone it looks like he rushed rookie Aredondo out and he gave up a couple runs. Not smart pitching management at all.
When your leadoff hitter goes 0 for 6 you have a big problem. Bench time for Figgins. Aybar at short and Izturis at third. Even Quinlan would be better at third right now. Someone has got to do something about this problem. At least drop him to 8th or 9th. He isn’t doing anything this year. Last year was last year. He’s back to being a lousy hitter. Please, get Nathan Haynes back.
Thank God we have Mike Scioscia and not Brian. Best. Record. In. Baseball. Brian - you’re a clown.
Those 12 pitches probably wore Spier out! Ive said it once ill say it a thousand times this team wins in spite of Mike not because of his managing.